Where Miss Snark vented her wrath on the hapless world of writers and crushed them to sand beneath her T.Rexual heels of stiletto snark. The blog is dark--no further updates after 5/20/2007.

3.29.2007

French letters

Dear Miss SnarkI am considering sending my three-volume epic for your immediate representation. It's about a poodle that wanders around Europe and Russia during the Napoleonic Wars, wondering about the meaning of life. It's pretty much all told from a foot-high perspective. The question I have is, would you consider drinking only red wine while you're reading it? I have it on good authority the grape is a better guide to good literary taste than the juniper berry. Signed, Pierre Poodle.

"Mrs." used to be interchangeable with "Miss" as an honorary title. "Mrs." and "Madame" might describe somebody as the Mistress of something, as in the Madame du Pompadour, who was actually married to a guy named Normant but owned the Pompadour estate. It might also be used by an unmarried lady who has long been attached to a profession, an honorific title. To use Upstairs, Downstairs as an example, the scullery maid was Ms. Ruby, but the cook was Mrs. Bridges. With time Americans have come to exclusively use Mrs. with a husband's surname, and then only if the lady has taken that name herself. But to confer the title "Madame" on Miss Snark would show respect towards a veteran in her profession.